The best library in all of time and space
by scribblingnellie
Summary: The Doctor can't always remember where the library is, but it's there whenever it's needed. And only the Tardis knows when that will be. I love the idea of the library, especially after 'Journey to the Centre of the Tardis!. Also playing with idea of where Eleven went and who he met while away from the Ponds. Hopefully more to come! Enjoy.


_**Orphans get the best stories**_

'Well, that's it. I really have nothing left now. '

Standing in the smoking ruins, she felt the man beside her take her hand, holding it gently, reassuringly.

'You have me,' he said, 'and her, if you want to join us.'

Behind them, as if the blue box was listening, there was a creaking sound. Looking over her shoulder, turning her head away from the devastation, from the only home she'd known, she saw that the doors had opened.

_Come with us_

Bright light spilled out, like a beacon in the darkness.

'And see all those stars you told me about, Doctor, all those others planets.'

Grinning, he slipped a friendly, caring arm around her shoulders. 'Any where, any time, any place. It's all out there.'

Other planets, other people. All her life she'd dreamed of escaping off this furthest, bleakest, saddest planet in the universe.

'Any where?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Any where.'

'Well, I guess I've no reason to stay.'

'No. I mean, you've blown up your home and freed a bunch of enslaved people by sending them off in the only spaceship this planet had left, basically leaving yourself stranded.'

'True.' She grinned at him. 'And now I'm alone.'

'And no-one should be alone. Especially me... so I've been told.'

'Having nothing means there's nothing to miss.'

'No happy memories?' His old eyes looked down at her.

'Oh, one or two perhaps. A book I'd snuck in, a corner I'd discovered to hide in.'

'No family? Friends?'

'Friends? Not in this place; you kept to yourself to keep going. And none of us had any family. That's why we were here.'

'You do have one thing,' the Doctor said, hugging her to his side, 'Your name. And names, names mean everything.'

'My name?'

'Oh, yes. Yours is rather intriguing. Did you know... anyway, that's another story.' The Doctor waved her questioning look away. 'But now orphans. Orphans get the best stories. I mean look at Harry Potter, Oliver Twist, Annie...'

'Who?'

The Doctor tilted his head, looking askew at her, and then slowly that grin spread across his face, the twinkle came into his eyes.

'Oh now you'll definitely have to come with us!' And grabbing her hand he twirled her around to face the open doors of the blue box.

'Hey!'

'You love books?' Abruptly he stopped, turning back to her.

'Yes...' she replied hesitantly.

'Of course you do! Smuggling in books, hiding them away. All those books that told you there were other possibilities, better things out there?'

'Of course,' she replied.

'Well... you're going to love the library.'

'In there? Seriously, you have a library in there?'

'Oh yes. Among many other wonders, and probably a few I've forgotten about... I really must get around to drawing that map... Come on!' And in one swift move, the Doctor pulled her into the blue box, 'this way!'

Stumbling over the door frame, dragged along behind him, she had little chance to take it in. A hurried blur of instruments, panels, buttons. So many things, so unlike anything she'd ever seen in her secluded life of factory, eat and sleep. Patterns, wires, shapes covered every surface. She tried to look at it all, the extraordinary beautiful strangeness.

'Doctor, it's...'

'Yes, yes, I know, bigger on the inside... details, details,' he dismissed as he scurried around the centre console, heading for a small set of stairs in the far corner, flicking a switch as he passed it, as though it was an action done so often over his lifetimes. 'Off and away!'

'No, Doctor...' she was starting to get a little out of breath as they left the console behind and dashed along dimly light corridors, 'I was going to say, it's beautiful.'

Crashing into the back of him, she looked up as he suddenly stopped running.

'Really?'

'Yes, really. It's... sorry, she's beautiful.'

And then, as though she'd heard, the Doctor's spaceship started to hum, almost like the purr of the stray black cat she'd found one day.

'Oh... thank you,' mumbled the Doctor, rubbing his jacket sleeve against the rivets in the corridor wall. He turned away, hand to his eyes, and then just as quickly turned back. 'Thank you.'

'What's her name?' she asked, 'every ship has a name.'

'The Tardis,' he smiled, 'though I usually call her 'old girl', among other things.'

The lights sparkled a little brighter and to their left an old, little wooden door glided outwards.

'Ah ha! The library!' he announced, 'you know, I think she likes you.'

The Doctor pulled her inside a vast, cavernous room and then words literally failed her. Stretching up to a ceiling so high that she couldn't figure out where it ended, were floors and galleries and shelves upon shelves of books. Bigger than even the main hall of the old house, the library felt like it went on infinitely. Never could she have imagined that that many books even existed. Every book in universe must have been there, lined along the shelves, neatly, haphazardly, even in piles on the floors.

Tiptoeing forward, she held her hand out to the nearest pile – gorgeously lettered spines, faded covers. Heart soaring as she touched them, she ran her hand over the pile. Feeling the tingling, the itching in her fingers to open them, to sit down and just read them all.

'Oh, don't worry,' he said, flitting from piles to bookcases, 'there's bound to be a few little corners to tuck yourself away in.'

'Bound to be? Don't you know?'

Smiling, almost to himself, the Doctor raised his head to stare up at the decorated ceiling, 'well, she likes to keep me on my toes.'

'And are there any nice, soft chairs to sit on in these corners you're not sure are there?'

'Oh yes, there'd be plenty of those, won't there old girl.'

And she knew he was definitely talking to his spaceship, almost like he was making a request. Just for her.

'Doctor,' she whispered, something inside her warming to this strange man and the irresistible happiness in his eyes, '...thank you.'

'You're welcome, my dear,' and he was back in front of her, leaning over to place a gentle kiss on top of her head, 'it's the least I can do for you. Now, go and read. Come and find me when you're done.'

Then he was gone. She looked down at the pile in front of her, picking up the faded red covered book on the top.

_Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens_, she read on the spine.

Coincidence? She shook her head; somehow she didn't think so. Gathering several books in her arms, she took a few steps into the nearest stack. And found herself suddenly in one of those secret little corners. A large red armchair, complete with several squished cushions and a warm-looking blanket, was ready and waiting for her.

'Thank you,' she whispered into the air, receiving a contented hum in reply.


End file.
